Leave Her Alone, Carry Him Home
by an authors pseudonym
Summary: *ONE-SHOT* *COMPLETE* FIRST IN MY, "'TILL DEATH DO US APART" SERIES. MINOR BLOOD OF OLYMPUS SPOILERS! CAUTION IS ADVICED Leo changed during the Blood of Olympus, and he reflects on his life, and accomplishments... and downfalls. Rated T for Violence. BIRTHDAY PRESENT FOR CLARA!


**Leave Her Alone, Carry Him Home**

_Summary:_ First in my, "'Till Death Do Us Apart" One-Shot series (updated randomly through time) in which Leo relishes his life with Calypso. (Hopefully) a fluffy story about Cleo, in honour of my friend Clara's birthday, who gave me the prompt and as a result, this story is without a beta. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CLARA!

_Extra Notes: _I actually wrote this while listening to a song from Doctor Who. Clara, I also tried to make it fluffy, but Melpomene was writing this, so, no promises.

_Disclaimer: _I do not own Percy Jackson, or the Heroes of Olympus, or Nightmares. They belong to Uncle Rick and Chameleon Circuit respectively.

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><p><em>Hey Old Man, rest your head, <em>

_Your breaking down inside_

_Armour's cracked, set to collapse_

Leo woke up.

He did not wake up like those over dramatized heroes, who always seem to wake up with a convenient bang, nor did he wake up like those assassins in books, silently and with their eyes instantly open. No, instead, Leo woke like any normal demi-god, one instance he was asleep and the next he was awake. He turned his head, wanting to look at his alarm clock to see the time. 3:08 a.m. Leo gave a sort of pained half smile. He was used to waking up in the morning. However, Leo's hours of sleep were becoming fewer and fewer. At first, he had woken up at 11:18 a.m. no matter what, but then he gradually began to wake up earlier and earlier. Only last week he had woken up at 4:59 a.m. Leo knew, because of some deep instinct that only demi-gods had, that soon, his strange case of insomnia would soon consume his sleeping hours, and render him unfit for sleeping. He grinned impishly, and a spark of the old Leo Valdez came upon his face, and if someone were look at him precisely at this moment, they would have backed away for fear of being set on fire. Let it be said that Leo Valdez was not one to give up.

_I've ended lives, I've ended worlds,_

_I guess I've done it all-_

_Fire and ice, and rage inside_

_How long 'till I fall?_

Leo got up from his bed, turned and simply stared at Calypso, his beautiful, strong, snoring Calypso: who had run away from Ogygia with him without looking back and without a plan; who had fought monsters with him; given birth to his lovely twins: Esperanza and Luna Valdez, after Leo's _mama_ and Calypso's flower. Yes, both Valdez's were happy. They had tried to find someplace they could live without the Seven knowing: Piper spoke French, so France and Québec were out of the picture; Jason, Frank and Hazel spoke Latin, so that ruled out New Rome; Hazel spoke Italian, so bye-bye Italy; Frank spoke Chinese and was Canadian, so that ruled out _all_ of Canada and China; Annabeth probably thought they would go to Greece, so _adios_ Greece, and Percy lived in the U.S. and controlled the seas, so no living by the water _or_ in the U.S. Finally, after much consideration, The Valdez's decided to reside in Mexico. Leo already spoke Spanish, so all they had to do was find a place that the Seven would overlook, and they did. Five years after they established their business, (both as mechanics, Calypso also working as a seamstress) Calypso gave birth to Esperanza and Luna. Esperanza II was like an exact copy of her mother: she had her hair, her eyes and her warm and gentle personality. Luna, however, was a carbon copy of her father: long, curly brown hair, impish grin and elven features. Luckily, (for everyone) the twins did not inherit their father's Fire User abilities, but they did inherit his knack with tools. Despite this, however, Leo's life was never smooth and peaceful: Leo had been cursed with Darkness in that short time he was dead, and he had unleashed his Darkness when the moon was always shrouded with clouds and in the darkest hour of the night. The scariest part was that he was aware of what he was doing: killing people in the dead of the night, using a variation of Shadow Travel to kill people over the world and goading world leaders towards violence and destruction- Leo's Darkness _loved_ this, found it pleasurable even. Afterwards, Leo would stumble blearily back into bed, and envelope a blissfully ignorant Calypso into his arms, and just before he fell asleep, Leo would wonder how his demise play out, and whether he would be in the Fields of Punishment, or Tartarus, because Leo knew that, in his heart, his Darkness would outweigh all the good he did and would do, so his only question was: _How long did he have left?_

_My darkest fears are gathering,_

_It's not enough to save the day,_

_I can't escape my nightmares-_

Leo rolled out of bed, careful to not jostle Calypso, and padded softly towards the desk at the corner of the room. There, he sat down, set his finger on fire, held it over the paper- careful not to burn it- and began to write.

_Sunshine,_

_I'm writing this letter thing because I do have things I would like to confess. There, how was it for a starting line? Was it good enough? _

_Anyways, I'll try to be serious about this, since I'm writing this letter (thing) and will have my lawyer or whatever hand this to you when I die. So first of all, I want to tell you this, and I'm not lying when I say this, but, Sunshine, you __snore__ when you sleep. It's the truth! You curl your nose in a very cute manner, open your mouth and snore. (I still love you, though)_

"_Spit out what you're going to say, Valdez!" I can practically hear you shout that in my ear right now, so I'll grant you your wish. After I died and came back, I got, sort of, somewhat… __cursed__ as you would call it. I don't know why I'm cursed, I got a feeling that's only 85.54% sure, that- ok, well, more like 112.45% sure- that it happened when I used the potion to come back from the dead. Maybe it's Hades getting his revenge or something, but whatever it is, I've christened it my, "Darkness" mainly because I do terrible things to appease my Darkness, Calypso. I'm scared; scared because you couldn't possibly understand or even imagine the things that I do when my Darkness comes out. I'll only outline you some of the things I've done, because they'll give you an idea as to what the Darkness is:_

_I've- I've done a sort of Shadow Travel, (I feel and see darkness encase my vision and body, then I feel weightless, then I fall to the ground in the shadows) and end up in different parts of the world- I once ended up in Russia. I had landed in an alleyway, and I don't know how, but I somehow __knew__ where I could find my victim. I was in Morozovka, Omskaya oblast', (no clue where that is, and yet I knew perfectly well where I was, does that make sense?) on a pitch black night. It, (the Darkness) was waiting in tense anticipation for its victim: a little girl came out of the house beside the alley and Calypso, it was horrible, because I __knew__ that the little girl was to become its food. It was worse because I didn't know the girl's name, but I knew that she was five: she was putting food out for her cat; she had a thirty-eight year-old mother; a forty year-old father; two sisters: one six years-old and the other fourteen and I knew that the little girl wanted to become a teacher, but that didn't matter. I lured her towards the alley by pretending to be her cat: then I-I, oh Gods, Calypso, I a-ate her. I gave her a slow death: made her scream, and all the while the Darkness was pulsing with sick enjoyment. The Darkness only stuck around to see her parents run towards her before I got back home- and I stumbled back into bed. Don't worry, though: It feeds then it gets me home before disappearing; only re-appearing at night again. _

_Another thing the Darkness does is whisper violence in leader's ears. One of the ears I whispered into was France's president, goading him into war against a neighbouring country. (He didn't follow my advice, thank the gods, but he came close- I could see it in his eyes) These are the only minor things I've done, but the scariest part? __I'm aware of whatever the Darkness does, but I can't move or do anything to stop it._

_I'm really sorry to leave you such a depressing note, Sunshine, but that was something I could never have said to your face. I think, watching you sleep as I write this, I'll take you out to dinner, how about that? I'll take you tomorrow. Sunshine… don't expect me to be in Elysium with you. I'll most likely be in Tartarus or the Fields of Punishment. Just to tell you._

_I love you, Calypso. I love you so much; I would kill myself for you. So much, in fact, that I beg you to live your life without thinking too much of me; live your life to its fullest. Grant me that wish so that I'll at least have a happy thought in my eternal punishment._

_With Love,_

_The new Sizzle McShizzle_

Leo extinguished the flame, rubbed his eyes and rolled the letter; put it in an envelope, before whispering in Buford's ear to give it to Calypso when he died. He climbed into bed, got comfortable, closed his eyes, and stepped into his nightly nightmare.

_Trickster feared, far from revered_

_So I must fear as well-_

_Words and laughter wearing thin,_

_Breaking this disguise-_

In a different universe, in the very, _very_ distant future, a long time ago when Parallel Leo Valdez was just an eight year-old child, he became a Pyromaniac.

He and his mom were tinkering with the machines, when, (as his mom would "tell" him) a fuse broke, causing a serious explosion to occur. Parallel Esperanza just had the time to scream to her child to run when the explosion caught them. Parallel Leo was thrown across the room, landing on some discarded matches, with a sprained ankle: Parallel Esperanza, however, wasn't so lucky: she received the brute of the force: causing her, (so said the doctor) to get a broken arm; a twisted ankle; her ponytail to be singed off; a burnt eyebrow; burned (and now useless) vocal cords, (no idea how) and serious third degree burns all over her body. Parallel Leo's aunt, (who was also- quite unluckily in his opinion- his god-mother) found her sister and nephew knocked unconscious due to a fire, and, because she hated her nephew, began spreading rumours that he had _started_ the fire, because he had serious problems. She swore up and down that he started the fire, fueling the eddy of scandal with the matches Parallel Leo landed on to prove her point- _Leo es problemático… una obsesión con los serillos…- _but Parallel Esperanza did not ship him off to the orphanage, only communicating with him through Morse Code; telling him it was not his fault she tried to protect him from getting burnt and doing the things they did before (only, of course, with Morse Code) but Parallel Leo knew that no one trusted him anymore, so he used his whiplash mouth and devil-may-care attitude and witty jokes to show the world that he did not give a dam about what they thought of him. But secretly, when Parallel Leo was at his weakest, he would look into the mirror and see his façade breaking and crumbling around him. Those times he would (instead of crying) set a match on fire and burn his skin, laughing madly all the while, because laughing was better than crying, and his façade would restore itself- just with one more tiny chink in the armour.

_Somewhere all my darkest fears are gathering,_

_It's not enough to save the day,_

_I can't escape my nightmares-_

Leo was in his nightmare again, only this time, his nightmare was different. His usual nightmares were of the Darkness finally eating Calypso, or Luna; Esperanza II; or their respective husbands: Enrique and Arturo. But, this nightmare was different. Leo was in a forest, with sunshine streaming in through tiny holes in the trees, and the birds were chirping all right, but he still got a sinister feeling that something was wrong. He sharply turned to the right, where another Leo was leaning casually against a tree trunk, his hands shoved into his jeans pocket and wearing a simple orange shirt. (No inscriptions on it) however, that Leo had something off, and that something was the fact that in no way did the Leo have (literal) burning eyes, red with blood lust, shark-sharp teeth and charred black hair. Leo came to the conclusion that that Leo was somehow responsible for his nightmare. Nightmare Leo's grin became more predatory and dangerous, as if he knew what Leo was thinking and felt personally touched. Leo narrowed his eyes, and was about to ask something, when Nightmare Leo hissed, and dissolved into the shadows, sucking everything into him like a black hole- including Leo. Leo's vision became warped, and he felt in pain- like swords dipped in venom were cutting into his body and twisting at the same time that whips were… well, whipping him; all in all, a _very_ painful experience. The pain stopped as suddenly as it came to him, and his surroundings steadied also. He looked around, and saw that he was standing in absolute darkness. Leo thought for a moment that he was somehow awake.

"Aw, did ya really want to get rid of me that much? I'm hurt." The mocking tone made him whirl around, coming face to face with Nightmare Leo. Nightmare Leo was sitting crossed legged on the darkness, grinning feral like at him.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

"Ooh, little Leo wants answers! How cute. But you know who I am, Leo. I didn't think you would forget Dublin so soon." Those words sent chills down his back, because now Leo knew who Nightmare Leo was: He was the Darkness. "That's right! Very good, Leo- now as to _what_ I want, I want you to wake up and let me free. It's boring having to wait until nightfall to go out and feed, and I can't kill you or else I die too, so the best thing to do is either a: you let me free- we can negotiate who gets what day- or I kidnap you, keep you hostage here and get free reign of your body for all eternity, your choice." Dark Leo smiled pleasantly, twisting his mouth into a cruel slash, and waited for Leo's answer. Leo thought about it; being a prisoner for life, or being a prisoner for eternity. He instantly discarded the second offer- but then he thought of his family, his wife and daughters and sons-in-law, and he made his choice. Leo squared his shoulders; took a deep breath; cracked his knuckles; got into a military position that would make Frank proud, and looked into Dark Leo's eyes. He could never escape his nightmares, anyways.

_Somewhere all my darkest fears…_

Tears stream down her cheeks, leaving salty marks behind. She does not care, though. She does not care that her eyes are puffy, or that her nose is red and runny. All she can think about is the way He died, how He started to convulse in pain, gasping and screaming with His eyes closed. She herself closes her eyes, banishing (and failing) the memory from her brain.

"_...esta bien?_" The concerned voice of His lawyer brings her back to life. She takes a deep breathe, composes herself, then opens her eyes. She smiles, flashing her pearly whites at the old Mr. José, and nods.

"S_i, estoy bien. Un poco alterada, eso es todo. Gracias, Señor José, solo, me gustaría un momento para-para recordarlo-"_ Mr. José looks a bit ashamed, but he leaves her alone, and she looks down at His grave. She brushes a stray tear away, before walking back home.

**Here Lies:**

**Leo Valdez**

**Loving husband, caring father**

**We will miss you, and your sunny personality that lit up any room. May God bless your soul.**

And somewhere, in a certain Esperanza II's womb, a little boy named Lucas, (Leo for short) will be born.

_Somewhere all my darkest fears are gathering,_

_It's not enough to save the day,_

_I can't escape my nightmares-_

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><p><strong>Ok, wow. This is most certainly darker than I thought, and less fluff. SORRY CLARA!<strong>

**Forgive me?**

**Ok, NOTES:**

**EDDY- means current (current of scandal)**

**VIRTUAL COOKIES IF YOU SPOTTED THE TITAN'S CURSE JOKE!**

**Bye!**

**Lucy**


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